Field of the Invention
The invention, in general, relates to a cutter assembly for chopping meat and, more particularly, to a cutter assembly for separating gristle, cartilage, sinews and bone fragments from meat to be chopped.
Known separator apparatus of the general kind are usually designed to separate bone chips or particles, cartilage, sinews and other collagenous fibers directly from the production flow of the meat or flesh. This may be done in an axial as well as in a radial or a tangential direction.
For instance, German laid-open patent specification DE-OS 3,522,202 discloses a meat grinder with a separator of this kind. The disclosed meat grinder is provided with a cutter assembly having at least one rotatably driven knife and at least one stationary perforated disc, as well as a feed screw for the meat and a separator for separating undesired components through a central bore in the perforated disc. The separator is provided with a bearing bush inserted into the center of the perforated disc. The bearing bush has a radial flange for supporting the separator. It also has discharge slots in the radial flange as well as an adjustable bush seated in the bearing bush. The cutter assembly is provided with a hub which together with the adjustable bush forms an adjustable discharge slot. The adjustable bush consists of an inner portion mounted for axial movement and a threadedly adjustable outer portion. A compassion spring is seated between the two portions. The compression spring is said to serve the purpose of the separator adjusting itself automatically to any given material to be separated. In this context it is assumed that a given charge of meat to be processed contains different quantities to be sorted out.
An improved version of a separator apparatus of the general kind is disclose by DE-OS 3,820,316. In addition to a feed screw for the meat and a cutter assembly of at least one rotatably driven knife and a stationary perforated disc the disclosed meat grinder is provided with a separator for removing undesired components through a central bore in the perforated disc. For adjusting a discharge slot in the central bore of the perforated disc the separator is provided with an axially movable inner sleeve and a part which is threadedly adjustable.
Reference may also be had to German laid-open specification which discloses a separator for use in meat grinders for removing undesired components. This separator also has a central bore in the perforated disc for ejecting the unwanted components. The disclosure relates to means for adjusting the discharge slot, i.e the annular slot for ejecting the components to be removed, for the exterior and during operation. This is accomplished by a separating tube extending longitudinally of the entire separator and provided with an adjustment device. The tube is connected to a terminal or final perforated disc by a lock nut and an adjustment bush.
The known meat grinders equipped with separators of the kind referred to are provided with what for the sake of simplicity may be called single screws. Hence, the working pressure during a grinding operation of fresh meat is about 5 to about 8 bar, but it is also dependent upon the kind of meat, its quality and the sizes of the pieces. Depending upon the structure and lay-out of the separator as well as the meat grinder, it is not possible to operate at higher work pressure which is detrimental as regards the meat to be ground as well as the degree of separation.